A Simple Two-Minute Reset for Stress That Actually Impacts Your Nervous System
If speaking feels harder than it should, it’s often less about confidence and more about what your nervous system is doing in the background.
Stress doesn’t just live in your thoughts; it lives in your body. And your nervous system needs cues to come back into balance before you can speak well.
That’s where humming comes in, and there is research to back it up.
The Science Behind Humming and Nervous System Regulation
When you hum with your lips sealed, the vibration travels through the bones of your face and sinuses. Those vibrations don’t just make sound; they stimulate the vagus nerve, which plays a major role in calming the stress response and helping the body shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic, rest-and-digest mode.
A pilot study published through PMCID found that humming produced the lowest stress index compared to physical activity, and even sleep. In this study, humming showed a stronger reduction in stress markers than several other activities tested, including physical exertion and rest, while requiring only a few minutes of sustained vibration. It also positively influenced heart rate variability, which is a key marker of the nervous system’s ability to self-regulate.
That same study suggests humming can help shift the autonomic nervous system, the part of your nervous system responsible for fight-or-flight versus calm and connected states, in a deeply supportive way.
Another recent investigation showed that humming breathing practices increased heart rate variability and emotional relaxation in a way similar to slow-paced breathing techniques.
Why Closed Mouth Humming Works
Closed mouth humming traps vibration inside the skull. That resonance travels through the sinuses and facial bones, stimulating neural pathways that help shift the body back into parasympathetic, or rest and digest, mode.
Experts have written about how humming stimulates the vagus nerve through vibration and respiratory mechanics, and why this can lower stress, reduce heart rate, and support emotional regulation.
A Simple Practice to Create a Physiological Reset
Here is how to do it:
Sit or stand comfortably.
Seal your lips.
Breathe in through your nose.
Hum continuously for two minutes. A steady vibration is enough, so don’t worry about the melody.
Minute one often feels strange.
By minute two, you’re likely to notice your breath deepen, along with muscular tension, and internal pressure releasing.
This helps your nervous system regulate, and you’ll feel much safer.
Researchers studying the effects of humming often point to measurable changes in heart rate variability, which signals a shift from stress to regulation.
Why This Can Help Your Speaking
Good speaking is a nervous system experience.
When your body feels activated or unsafe, your voice constricts, your breath becomes shallow, and thinking clearly becomes much harder. Practices that calm the nervous system help the body recognize safety long enough for the voice to join the conversation.
Humming is one of the quickest ways to create that shift.
It’s so simple that anyone can do it.
And research shows it can physically change your body’s stress response.
So the next time tension shows up before speaking, know that your nervous system needs regulation.
Sometimes, that begins with two minutes of humming.
References
Psychology Today. The Power of Humming and Vagus Nerve Stimulation.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-compassionate-brain/202410/the-power-of-humming
National Institutes of Health, PubMed Central. Humming: Simple Bhramari Pranayama as a Stress Buster. PMCID: PMC10182780
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10182780/
ScienceDirect. Effect of Humming Breathing Practices on Heart Rate Variability and Emotional Regulation.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938425001738
ResearchGate. Humming as a Stress Reduction Practice and Its Impact on Autonomic Nervous System Regulation.
